Mantra: Aum Mani Padme Aum

Namaste, dear friends. In the past few episodes, we have been working on the theme of connecting with our deeper self. Today, we are going to look at the quality of the self through another mantra that I'm sure many of you would already be familiar with. It's one of the most popular Buddhist chants which is Om Mani Padme Hum. There are many variations of this that you would hear. So, it could be also Om Mani Peng Me Om or Om Mani Peng Me Hum. You would hear permutations and combinations of all these sounds. But if we have to go back to the original Sanskrit pronunciation of this mantra, it would be Om Mani Padme Hum. Om we are familiar with by now. Mani in Sanskrit means jewel. Padma is the lotus and when we say Padme, it means in the lotus. So, the jewel in the lotus accompanied by the sound Hum. Hum is another bijaya mantra which is as important as the other two mantras we have seen, the Om and the Ayim. The Hum is also the fire mantra. It is said to be also the weapon and the protection mantra. It is the seed sound of Ross and it is said that the use of this sound can destroy all negativity and burn up all desire. Very powerful stuff. So, when we put it together, it becomes Om Mani Padme Hum. I'll just draw your attention to a very small detail. When we do the sound Mani, the usual tendency would be to do it with a dental. Mani, Mani. Here, the letter is a cerebral sound which means that the tongue has to roll up and the tip of it touches the roof of your palate. Na. And you do Mani. Try that. Mani. You will see that it changes something in you and the good news is that when you stimulate that particular point in the roof of your mouth, then that is said to energize the two energy meridians of the body. So, pronouncing these mantras corresponds to a particular sound effect which has its connection with our breathing and the spaces. But also quite importantly is the fact that the combination of these sounds makes us move our tongue in very specific manners within our mouth which in turn stimulates certain zones of your brain. So, repeating these mantras is not just beneficial to creating a better inner space and outer space but are directly beneficial for the health and well-being of your body. So, we'll go into this particular mantra and enjoy the power that it contains. Om, Mani, Padme, Hum. As we do the chant, I want you to also hold the imagination in your mind. Imagine that you are holding a lotus in your left hand and the jewel in your right hand. You can indicate the jewel with the chin mudra which is the combination of your index finger with the thumb and keeping the other finger straight. So, that represents the jewel sitting on the lotus. We'll say it once and you repeat after me. Om, Mani, Padme, Hum. Very good. Before we go into the chant and the practice more deeply, I want to also draw your attention to the symbolism of the words in this mantra. Mani represents the jewel which is the shining aspect of ourselves but a jewel becomes precious when it has been worked upon. You don't just find a jewel like that in nature. We find the raw material and it is this conscious working on it that makes it precious and brilliant. So, that is the symbolism of the word Mani. The word Padma on the other hand, the lotus is also very often used in spiritual symbology. The lotus grows in the mud. It's a very beautiful flower even though the surrounding of it is very dirty. So, the lotus is symbolic of the possibility of blossoming into something very beautiful even in the midst of muck. Another aspect of the lotus which is very remarkable is its leaf. The lotus leaf is often used as a symbol of not allowing anything to stay on it and that's because if you put a drop of water on the lotus leaf, it doesn't smudge. It retains its shape. The lotus leaf remains untouched by that water drop. So, this invocation is really to remember that we need to work on our raw material and become like jewels and even if there is muck around, we can grow into a beautiful flower and that can also happen when we don't allow the events and our surroundings to affect us in any way like the lotus leaf. And then home is the power to destroy all that is unnecessary within us. So, home, the gathering of the energy to enable us to become jewels in the lotus and with the power of destruction of everything unnecessary. We'll now chant this. You repeat after me as I do it in a particular melody that you might be familiar with but we'll do it like that. Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum, together.

Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum. Last time, Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum, Om mani padme hum. Lovely. So, this is a mantra that can bring a lot of joy as well in the sounds and the melody of this particular chant which is like a kind of reminder that this work of polishing this jewel is a work of joy if one knows how to see it like that. So, the more one allows oneself to be polished, allows oneself to take every opportunity to grow into a beautiful flower, allow oneself the freedom of not being touched by the circumstances around us, the more we will experience the beauty and richness of life. So, practice the Om mani padme hum, bring your concentration on these sounds and feel the joy of existence. Thank you.